Lebanon Militias Sign Peace Plan

December 29, 1985|The New York Times

BEIRUT — Leaders of Lebanon`s rival militia forces signed a pact Saturday designed to end a decade of sectarian warfare that has left tens of thousands of people dead and devastated a country that was once among the most prosperous in the Middle East.

The signing took place in Damascus, Syria, under the supervision of Syria`s first vice president, Abdel Halim Khaddam, who had been the broker at three months of negotiations among the armed factions that have been fighting one another since 1975.

The agreement was signed by Nabih Berri, the leader of the mainstream Shiite Moslem movement called Amal; his ally, Walid Jumblatt, who is head of the mostly Druze Progressive Socialist Party, and Elie Hobeika, the commander of the powerful Christian militia known as the Lebanese Forces.

``It is all over,`` Berri told reporters, alluding to the civil war that in effect partitioned the country into fiefdoms controlled by militia heads, who virtually replaced the central government in power.

Berri said after the signing that a new era had begun for Lebanon, a country of three and a half million people that is the size of Connecticut. ``I am very happy,`` he said.

In Beirut, people were glued to their radios awaiting news of the signing. Restaurants, serving lunch to packed houses for the first time in months, turned on their radios, and men and women cheered as they finally heard the announcement that the pact had been signed.

But along with the euphoria, there has been widespread skepticism about the success of the accord. ``Seeing is believing,`` said a Lebanese news analyst. Many peace accords have been signed in Lebanon before but have fallen apart as they were being put into effect.

The Syrian daily Al Baath said, ``A new future has begun for Lebanon.``

The three militias control a considerable part of Lebanon. Amal and the Progressive Socialist Party share power in West Beirut, the predominantly Moslem part of the capital, and the Lebanese Forces control the mostly Christian eastern sector of the city.

Thousands of Shiite militiamen are in command in an area stretching from Beirut`s southern suburbs south to the port of Tyre. A force of 5,000 Druze fighters controls the Chouf Mountains east and southeast of the city, and 6,000 Christian militiamen operate what amounts to a state within the Lebanese nation north and east of the capital.

The splintered national armed forces are overshadowed by the numerous private armies, which are better armed and have members more motivated than the regular soldiers.

The pact signed Saturday falls in two sections, the first providing a mechanism for ending the civil war, and the second offering political changes establishing parity between Moslems and Christians in power-sharing.

Under the first part, all militias are to be disarmed and disbanded and the central government is to regain control in the country over a period of 12 months. The document said Syria would offer military assistance in maintaining law and order until the Lebanese army has been restructured. No time limit has been fixed for the army to replace Syrian forces in controlling security.